KEY Magazine Fort Worth

GUEST SERVICES

Guest Relations Team Success
by Don Patterson

Customer satisfaction isn’t accomplished by accident. It takes a first class management team and a dedicated staff. Stacey Wood, general manager of Hilton Garden Inn Fort Worth North, takes the approach one step further. She asserts that every staff member contributes to success. “We have forty personnel and eight staff supervisors. All our people are considered part of the team. We hold weekly meetings as ongoing training sessions. We invite everyone to participate in problem solving and service improvement. It’s that feedback that helps us excel individually and as a team.”

Stacey’s approach is derived from experience at every level in hotel management. “I started at the bottom and progressed through numerous supervisory and management positions. That knowledge taught me how important each job can be and how learning from it can help you become a better manager.”

Fostering mastery in each hotel hospitality position is another key ingredient in Stacey’s success formula. “By meeting with our people weekly, we counsel them more readily, and help them improve performance. By making them active team participants, we give them a greater sharing in the hotel’s success.”

Key Magazine is another helpful tool that Stacey recognizes. “The maps and other information are very helpful to us. The magazine has always been a valuable tool at every hotel for which I’ve worked.”

Stacey’s team concept includes careful personnel recruitment and development. “You need to find people who thoroughly enjoy hospitality work. If you encourage them and include them in your management process, you can’t help but succeed. A hotel’s performance can be best measured when the general manager is absent. When I leave the premises I’m comfortable that our team is providing the very best in service and satisfaction.”

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